Than Hnien News reports that an 89-year-old American passenger on the Seven Seas Voyager suffered a heart attack 30 miles from Da Nang, Vietnam.

The newspaper says that doctors at a local hospital provided the ship’s crew with first aid instructions over the phone. Rescue workers traveled to the cruise ship despite strong winds and large waves and medevaced the passenger to Da Nang Hospital.

A number of newspapers in Australia are reporting that police in the Northern Territory of Australia are investigating the death of a 24-year-old woman aboard a cruise ship which docked in Darwin today.

Commander Richard Bryson of the Crime and Specialist Support Command said the woman's body was found in her cabin. "The woman was a staff member on a cruise ship which is currently moored in Darwin Harbour," he said.

"A crime scene was established as the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident continue."

The newspaper articles state that the police refuse to release further information, such as even the name of the cruise ship.

Ship tracking services indicate that the Seven Seas Voyager operated by Regent Seven Seas Cruises (RSSC) is in Darwin today. The Seven Seas Voyager has a crew of 447 serving some 700 passengers.

Needless to say, the death of a young woman is unusual.

The death of this young woman comes at a time when members of the International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization are petitioning the government of Australia for legislation to protect passengers and crew members who sail into Australian ports. ICV Australia Director Mark Brimble lost his wife on a cruise after she was given a date rape drug.

An on-line cruise community says that the crew member in question was the lead female singer on the cruise ship, although this has not been confirmed.

Cruise passengers sailing aboard the Seven Seas Voyager experienced a thrill as their cruise ship assisted in the rescue of three sailors aboard a sailboat off the coast of New Zealand.

According to a newspaper in New Zealand, the cruise ship steamed to the rescue after a ketch called the Sea Wanderer reported engine failure and a loss of navigation systems Sunday evening, when the ketch was 30 kilometers off Marlborough's Clifford Bay.

Passengers described heavy swells and winds of 50 knots. The sailboat was "just completely out of control."

About 30 to 45 minutes later, a helicopter from the Wellington Coast Guard arrived and eventually winched the men safety. The sailors were described as "cold, wet and tired, but otherwise alright."

A newspaper in Italy is reporting that a U.S. passenger became sick with meningitis and was taken ashore for medical treatment once the ship arrived at port.

The Corriere del Mezzogiorno newspaper reports that when the Seven Seas Voyager cruise ship arrived at the port of Messina, one U.S. passenger was taken from the cruise ship to a hospital in Gaeta. However, no other passengers were allowed to disembark - apparently out of concern that they may also be sick and infect people ashore.

The newspaper account states that the passengers were given prophylactic medications but must wait at least 48 hours to avoid others from being infected.

Meningitis is a serious disease affecting the mucous membranes surrounding the brain. It can be spread in the air, person to person and through contaminated food or water. It can be deadly.

Last month four crew members were infected with meningitis while working on the MSC Orchestra cruise. They were hospitalized in a medical facility in Italy. One crew member died. The frightening thing about that case was that two of the crew members worked in the cruise ship's galley which increased the prospects that the passengers could be infected.

October 29, 2012 Update: The Cruise Critic message board has a comment that this was a "suspected" case of meningitis and the Italian Health Ministry indicated that the passenger tested negative for the disease.

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